10 November 2021
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) could take legal action against the government over changes to its pension scheme, which it says will make firefighters pay the cost of age discrimination introduced by the government into the scheme
It issued a formal letter before claim last week for judicial review proceedings. The government has until 19 November to respond.
The Court of Appeal cases, Ministry of Justice v McCloud and Home Secretary v Sargeant [2018] EWCA Civ 2844 found the government’s public sector pension reforms discriminated against judges and firefighters based on their ages.
Younger firefighters were required to leave the scheme and join a new 2015 scheme. FBU national officer Mark Rowe said the government was ‘trying to make firefighters pay for their own discrimination… via a scheme in their pensions called “cost control”’.
